A Small Matter of Skill
by MissCHSparkles
Summary: Slingshot is always boasting and it's giving the Airelbots a bad name. But is there a reason for this, and is he more scared than he makes out? His team mates want to know. Done as a request for my great friend Prowsgirl. Enjoy.


_Author's note. This was done for Prowlsgirl who also did a request for me._

_It's called 'Secrets of Logic', you should all check it out, it's great. And maybe leave a small review, it's about Prowl and Soundwave._

_Enjoy and please review._

"Heh, did you see how I took down those Seekers, they had no chance."

Sliverbolt sighed softly as Skydive rolled his optics. Their team mate, Slingshot, was bragging again. And it was starting to become very wearing.

"I thought Air Raid was the one responsible for taking down the Rainbow Trine?" Silverbolt said softly to Skydive who snorted.

"He did," he said in a low voice as he rubbed a sore arm.

"Air Raid went right in there, kicking and punching all three of them. He ended up getting pretty beat up until Fireflight finally came to his rescue."

Sliverbolt sighed again, Fireflight had been distracted by Optimus Prime and Megatron fighting on the ground.

"Slingshot just went in there to finish the job, but there wasn't much left to do," Skydive continued.

"And yet the way he's going on, you'd think he'd taken on the entire group of Seekers."

Sliverbolt nodded grimly, not missing the glares some of the Autobots were shooting at his team. He didn't like to admit it but even after three months on Earth, they still weren't functioning as a proper team. The problem was, unless they had actually combined, they tended to act separately.

Something had to be done.

"Young punks," Ironhide growled as Slingshot continued bragging.

"What was Prime thinking when he brought them at Earth?"

"They need time, Ironhide," Prowl said fairly as he walked beside the glaring red Mech.

"We don't have time," Ironhide retorted.

"They need at get their act together and fast."

Sliverblot caught Skydive's optic and grimaced.

"We're going have to all talk," Sliverbolt muttered to his SIC.

"And now."

In the Airelbot's living quarters.

"Why are we all here?" Slingshot whined as he fidgeted on the low but comfy sofa in their living area.

"I was going to practice my manoeuvres, not that I really need to," he added modestly.

Fireflight and Air Raid rolled their optics, while Skydive coughed slightly.

"Because we have a situation," Sliverblot began patiently.

"What situation is that?" Fireflight interrupted, earning a glare from Skydive.

"_We're _the situation," Sliverbolt said sternly, knowing he had to really be the leader here.

"We don't function properly as a team and it's affecting battles."

Before they could protest, he looked straight at first Air Raid and said.

"Air Raid, you're a great fighter but you're too impulsive. You rush into fights without backup and end up getting hurt."

He turned to Fireflight.

"Firefligth, your recklessness today nearly got Air Raid seriously injured. Why were you watching Prime and Megatron when your team mate was trying to take on _three_ Seekers?"

Fireflight's face was flaming while Air Raid was biting his lower lip. But before Sliberbolt could speak again, Slingshot spoke.

"You ain't exactly perfect yourself," he said, pointing a finger at his leader.

"You can barely get off the ground before you start to feel dizzy, I can get ten times as high as you."

"We all have faults, Slingshot," Skydive cut in.

"I would rather study battles than be in them. But the point is, both me and Sliverbolt try to overcome these faults."

"Skydive's right," Sliverbolt said softly.

"We have faults but we still do our best. And that's what I want from you all."

"That's all?" Air Raid asked softly.

"Not quite," Sliverbolt said with a smile.

"We need to work out how we can function better as a team and me and Skydive had a couple of ideas…"

"Wait a minute," Fireflight suddenly said.]

He pointed a finger at Slingshot.

"What about him, you haven't told us what _his_ faults are."

"I think we all know that already," Air Raid muttered.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Slingshot angrily demanded.

"I don't have any faults, not like _you."_

Sliverbolt sighed heavily.

"There's your fault, Slingshot," he said quietly.

"You're always bragging and taking others credit, it's not giving you a good image."

"I just tell it like it is," Slingshot said defensively.

"No Slingshot, you don't," Sliverbolt said sorrowfully.

"You put yourself above others, and it's not nice. Why do you do it?"

"I….I don't know what you're talking about," Slingshot stuttered, turning away from them all.

"Well, anyway, Sliverbolt said, deciding to drop the issue.

"Back to the matter at hand. As I was saying, me and skydive had an idea about how we could work better together."

He looked at each of them in turn, right in the optic.

"I think we should all Bond…by interfacing."

Fireflight, Air Raid and Slingshot all stared at him in shock. Skydive just smiled slightly.

"I hope this is agreeable to everyone."

"Um, sure, I suppose," Fireflight said with a shrug.

"I'd be okay with that," Air Raid said softly.

Slingshot however, didn't look so happy.

"Ah, no thanks, I think I'll pass."

They all looked at him.

"Come on Slingshot, it'll be fun," Fireflight said lazily.

"No….no, I don't think so," Slingshot said, starting to get to his feet.

"Do you have a better idea?" Skydive said with a raised brow.

"If so, I'd be happy to hear it. But I really think we need to do something."

Slingshot shrugged, not meeting anyone's optics.

"You guys go ahead and do it, I'll go and do…something."

"Slingshot..," Skydive started to say but Slingshot cut across him.

"No...I don't want to….you'll…..you'll all make fun of me."

His face was twisted in pain and his optics actually looked a little watery. They all stared in shock at him.

"Slingshot, what's wrong?" Air Raid asked in shock.

"Nothing, nothing…just leave me alone," Slingshot yelled.

"What happened to you?" Skydive said suddenly.

Slingshot turned away.

"I don't know what you mean," he said gruffly.

"I think you do," Skydive said softly.

"I've never seen you scared like this, what happened?"

Slingshot didn't reply, just wrung his hands in a nervous manner.

"Slingshot, we're your team," Sliverbolt said gently, going over to rest a hand on the smaller flyer's shoulder.

"Tell us what's wrong."

Slingshot didn't say anything for a long moment. And then he said in a pain filled voice.

"They….they said I was small."

"Who?" Fireflight said curiously.

"Starscream. Starscream and his Trine," he replied stiffly.

"They caught me and said…things about me."

"What things," Sliverbolt asked, very seriously.

A tear rolled down Slingshot's face.

Flashback.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" sneered a voice.

Slingshot jumped and spun around in shock. There, hovering a few feet above him, was the Elite Trine. He hadn't noticed their approach, he'd been too focused on finding his dropped data pad.

"Ha, look at him, he'd no idea we were here," Skywarp now jeered in response to Starscream's statement.

Slingshot fumbled for his gun, making them all laugh.

"Aw, how quaint, he wants to try and fight us," Starscream chuckled as Slingshot finally got hold of his gun and pointed it at them.

"Stay back," he said, hoping his voice wasn't shaking.

They all laughed nastily.

"Fool," Starscream sneered coldly and suddenly Skywarp disappeared with a crack.

Slingshot jumped as he heard a crack right behind him. He spun to see Skywarp leering at him. But this was a big mistake.

"Ahh," he cried as he was hit from behind.

Stunned, he lay in a heap on the ground as they all laughed at him.

"Never turn your back on the enemy," Thundercracker now said, his gun smoking.

"Well, what did you expect from such a _small_ Autobot flyer," Starcream said as he and his Trine landed.

"Shut up," Slingshot snarled, trying to get up.

Thundercracker growled and kicked him in the side.

"Watch your mouth," he snarled.

"Fragging Con," Slingshot hissed, doubled up in pain.

But as Thundercracker raised his foot for another kick, Starscream stopped him.

"Wait a moment, I have a better idea for this insolent child,"

As Slingshot stared, Starscream barked out a command.

"Seize him and turn him on his front."

The two Seekers obeyed, grabbing and lifting Slingshot up. They then flung him over a large boulder before holding him down.

"W-what are you doing?" Slingshot cried out as Starscream came up behind him.

"Just teaching you some manners," Starscream sneered as he withdrew a paddle from Subspace.

And started to thoroughly spank Slingshot with it. The young flyer struggled and howled with pain, but it didn't do any good. Starscream simply continued regardless.

"Stop it, please stop it," Slingshot begged but they only laughed.

"Next time, move a bit faster,"

"Is it true you're the weakest out of the while pathetic bunch?"

"Look at your size, you'd be useless in the berth."

And so the taunts and jibes continued as Slingshot was steadily beaten.

Eventually, they released the sobbing Mech and let him collapse on the ground.

"Face it boy," Starscream sneered as the Airelbot moaned with pain.

"You're too _small _and _slow_ to compete with us."

They left in a heap on the ground, weeping from his harsh treatment.

"Run along back to your team and let the older, better Autobots fight from now on."

Slingshot didn't move for a long time, even after they'd long left.

End of Flashback.

"Oh Slingshot," Sliverbolt said as he held the crying Mech.

"Why didn't you tell us what had happened?"

"I-I thought you'd all laugh," Slingshot wept as his team gathered round.

"L-like they did."

"We'd never laugh," Skydive said softly.

"And we'll take care of those Seekers," Air Raid said fiercely.

"Yeah, no one hurts our team," Fireflight added as he patted Slingshot's back.

"Don't you listen to anything they say," Sliverbolt said, hugging his team mate tightly.

"Not one word."

"But their right," Slingshot protested tearfully.

"I'm the slowest and smallest out of all of you. And-and I'm small somewhere else to."

"What are you…?" Skydive began but Slingshot cried out.

"Spike. I have a really small Spike, I can't interface with you guys,"

"Oh Slingshot, I'm sure that's not true," Sliverbolt started to say but Slingshot cried out again.

"No, it _is _small, I've seen others."

His lip trembled as he continued.

"I found out what the normal size is. And I'm smaller than that, I'm, I checked."

It took a while to calm him down as they all held and comforted him. Finally, they got him to sit down and they all snuggled up together.

"It doesn't matter to any of us if you're slightly smaller," Sliverbolt said gently.

"Size isn't everything, look at Mechs like Brawn and Cliffjumper. Their half our size but does that stop them or slow them down?"

"No," Slingshot said softly.

"That's right and you know what else? Those Mechs have perfectly healthy interface lives."

"Really?" Slingshot questioned softly.

"Yes," his leader said firmly before saying.

"We'll all have a good time together, the five of us. And we'll get better and show those Seekers they don't own the skies anymore."

They all cheered at this, and Slingshot managed to smile.

"T-thanks guys," he said softly.

"Y-you've really made me feel better."

"That's what a team does, help it's team mates fell better," Sliverbolt said with a smile.

"Will you interface with us?" Skydive asked softly.

"I promise none of us will laugh or anything like that."

"Ummm," Slingshot said, looking a bit unsure.

"Y-you promise you won't laugh?"

"We promise," they all answered.

"Would it make you feel better if we dimmed the lights down a bit in our room?" Air Raid suggested.

"It might, yeah," Slingshot replied with a nod and a grateful smile.

It was then agreed that they would all interface together so headed to their shared quarters. Sliverbolt smiled at the others and then led Slingshot to his berth after dimming the lights.

"You want to interface with me?" Slingshot asked in amazement.

"Yes, I do," Sliverbolt said with a wide kind smile.

"I want to show you how I will always looks after my team, no matter what."

Slingshot smiled shyly as he and his leader carefully removed their armour. The shy Mech then lay back on the berth, letting his leader take the lead.

Soon, he was groaning with pleasure and want as Sliverbolt carefully thrust into him and started interfacing. He had been so scared of interfacing but this was wonderful.

"S-Sliverbolt, uh, uh ohhhh," he moaned in ecstasy.

"Oh, more, more, please."

"Whatever you wish," Sliverbolt panted with a smile as he leaned down to kiss Slingshot.

He started going harder, faster until Slingshot was yelling with pleasure. Finally, with an audio shattering cry, they both overloaded. Sliverbolt slumped down with a satisfied groan. Slingshot was panting but he looked happy.

As Sliverbolt rolled off him, he sat up slightly. He really wanted to return the favour Sliverbolt had given him but he still didn't feel brave enough to be dominant. He looked over his tired leader, trying to think of something to do.

And then it hit him.

"My turn now," he whispered softly and shifted down the berth.

"What?" Sliverbolt said in surprise before groaning in bliss.

Slingshot had taken hold of his leader's Spike and had inserted it into his mouth. And then he had started sucking.

"S-Slingshot," Sliverbolt stuttered.

"Ohhhh, OH, that's good."

"Enjoying yourself?" Fireflight teased as he and the others watched from their berth.

They had had a threesome but were now resting. However, they were more than happy to watch their leader and formally shy team mate. They were happy that he was clearly enjoying himself and having a good time.

"Hmm, nice," Air Raid purred as Sliverbolt finally overloaded into Slingshot's mouth.

The three Airelbots made their way over to the berth and started caressing the two overloaded Mechs. And in a matter of breems, all five were interfacing, but this time, all together.

"Thanks guys," Slingshot said with a wide smile as they all lay in a heap a few hours later.

"I'm sorry I've been giving us a bad name, I'll try to do better from now on."

"That's all we want," Sliverbolt said, kissing his team mate's cheek.

"That's all we want."

Four cycles later.

"Hey, Screamer?"

"Who dares," a red and white Seeker seethed as he spun around to find a grinning Airelbot.

"_You. _I would have thought you learned your lesson last time."

"Yeah, that's the thing," Slingshot said lazily as Thundercracker and Skywarp flanked their Trine Leader.

"I've been thinking about that and I thought of something."

"Oh, and what might that be?" sneered Starscream as his Trine grinned nastily.

"Well, it's funny how you were calling me a coward and stuff," Slingshot said simply.

"And yet it took three of you to beat me up. Couldn't do it on your own?"

"Oh, I could easily do it on my own," Starscream said silkily.

"But why leave my team out of the fun?"

"I thought you'd say something like that," Slingshot said cheerfully as his team mates suddenly rocketed up into the sky.

"Because I was thinking the exact same thing," the smallest Airealbot added as he charged forward with his team mates, all as a team at long last.

_Author's note. Hope you enjoyed this, I didn't realise before the very end of this had been deleted but now it's fixed._


End file.
